Food Stamped

Students interview Sairah Budhwani, an advocate from the Urban Justice Center, to find out who makes decisions about Food Stamps.

1 in 5 New Yorkers are using food stamps, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program has a big impact on communities, all the way from what we eat to how businesses pay their employees.

Students from the International Community High School in Mott Haven worked with teaching artist James Whitman to find out who makes decisions about food stamps. They talked to a community advocate, drew diagrams of the food stamp system, and thought of alternatives to the food stamp program. They made a fold-out poster to show how food stamps work, and what people think about the program.

What People are Saying

“We learned a lot about food stamps and how to express the way we imagine the process of food stamps in drawings.” — ICHS students

“The projects seemed like a chance for students to engage with current issues that have direct effects on them, to gain an enlarged sense of the mechanisms which shape their social world, and maybe to find out about some of the access points they have to shape that world themselves.” — James Whitman, teaching artist

Resources & Links

The Urban Justice Center serves New York City’s most vulnerable residents through a combination of direct legal service, systemic advocacy, community education and political organizing.

Funding Support

This project was made possible by the Bay and Paul Foundations, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additional support is provided by Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito.